Vibrato tailpiece



July 29, 1969 T. M. MCCARTY E 3,457,821

VIBRATO TAILPIECE Filed Nov. 8, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet l July 29, 1969 T. M. MCCARTY ET AL 3,457,821

VIBRATO TAILPIECE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 8. 1967 mm TAS mmw m m N M INN. B E m 0 r D A w United States Patent VIBRATO TAILPIECE Theodore M. McCarty and John Huis, Kalamazoo, Mich., assignors to Bigsby Accessories, Inc., Kalamazoo, Mich, a corporation of Michigan Filed Nov. 8, 1967, Ser. No. 681,321 Int. Cl. Gd 3/00 US. Cl. 84-313 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Background of the invention This invention relates in general to a vibrato-creating device for a stringed instrument and, more particularly, to a type thereof having adjustments in the manually engageable actuating arm to assure a comfortable position of said arm for the instrumentalist and to render the device capable of use by instrumentalists having varying physical characteristics and/ or limitations.

Persons familiar with the manufacture and operation of stringed instruments, such as guitars and the like, recognize that a vibrato is most easily produced on such instruments by means of a mechanism, usually attached to the tailpiece of the instrument, which can be manually actuated to change the tension of the strings after they have been plucked or otherwise caused to vibrate. It is well known that stringed instruments using such vibratocreating devices are produced in a wide variety of sizes and shapes. It is also well known that because of the wide variety of shapes and sizes found in such instruments and because of variations in the physical character istics of the instrumentalists who play such stringed instruments, the substantially inflexible arrangement of the parts in existing vibrato-creating devices often creates a serious problem of discomfort for the instrumentalist, particularly where the instrument is played for relatively long periods of time.

Accordingly, a primary object of this invention is the provision of a device for creating a vibrato in a stringed instrument whereby said device can be adapted for use on instruments of widely different sizes and shapes and by persons having widely varying physical characteristics without causing discomfort for the person playing the instrument.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a vibrato-creating device, as aforesaid, having a handle capable of three-dimensional adjustment in order to provide the widest possible range of changes in the handle for the purpose of adapting same to comfortable operation.

Other objects and purposes of the invention will become apparent to persons familiar with accessories of this type upon reading the following descriptive material and examining the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a vibrato-creating device embodying the invention and showing a portion of a stringed instrument with which it is used.

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view' taken along the line II-H in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIGURE 1.

3,457,821 Patented July 29, 1969 FIGURE 4 isa sectional view taken along the line IV-IV in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 5 is a fragment of FIGURE 1 illustrating a modified structure.

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view taken along the line VI-VI in FIGURE 5.

For convenience in description, the terms front, rear, top, bottom and words of similar import will have reference to the device as appearing in FIGURE 1 which shows a top view thereof, the rear end of said device being at the lower end of the figure. The words inner, outer and derivatives thereof will have reference to the geometric center of said device and parts thereof.

Summary of the invention The objects and purposes of the invention, including those set forth above, have been met by providing a tailpiece with a rotatable string anchor and stop means for yieldably limiting the rotation of said anchor. Actuating means, which is connected to the anchor means for effecting said limited rotation thereof, is constructed so that it can be moved into an infinite number of positions to adapt the device for use on a wide variety of types and sizes of instruments by persons having a wide variety of physical characteristics.

Detailed description The vibrato-creating device 10, one preferred embodiment of which is illustrated in FIGURE 1, is adapted for mounting upon a stringed instrument 11, such as a guitar. The vibrator-creating device 10 includes a tailpiece 12 having an end member 13 hingedly secured to the tailpiece and rigidly secured to the sidewall 14 of the instrument 11. The tailpiece 12 lies against the upper wall 16 which, on most stringed instruments 11, will be disposed substantially at a right angle to sidewall 14 but, on other instruments may be at a greater or lesser angle to said sidewall. The tailpiece 12 (FIGURES l and 2) is bifurcated to provide a pair of forwardly extending projections 17 and 18. Coaxial openings 19 and 21 are provided in the projections to receive the bearings 22 and 23, respectively. A horizontal flange 29 (FIGURE 3) extends forwardly from the right projection 18 and has an upwardly opening recess 31 (FIGURE 4) for purposes hereinafter described.

A shaft 24 is rotatably mounted in the bearings 22 and 23. The shaft 24 has a plurality of pin openings 27 between said bearings for reception of pins 28, each of which engages the rear end of a string 30 (FIGURE 3) of the instrument. In this case, pins 28 are preferably threadedly held within the pin openings 27.

A retaining ring 26 (FIGURE 2) is secured to the leftward end of shaft 24 to prevent rightward axial movement of said shaft. A crank 32 (FIGURE 1) has a vertical flange 33 with an opening 34 through which the shaft 24 extends. A set screw 36 (FIGURE 2) extends through the vertical flange 33 and secures same to the shaft 24. Crank 32 also includes a horizontal flange 38 (FIGURE 3) which is vertically aligned with flange 29, as shown in FIGURE 4. Horizontal flange 38 has a vertical opening 39 therethrough with an enlarged lower portion 41. A spiral spring 42 is normally held under compression between the flange 29 and the flange 38. The lower end of said spring 42 rests in the upwardly opening recess 31 in flange 29, and the upper end of said spring is disposed in the enlarged portion 41 of opening 39 in flange 38.

A connector 43 has a flange 44 which is attached to flange 38 of crank 32 by a screw 49 which extends through opening 46 in flange 44 and opening 39 in flange 38. A pair of lock nuts 52 are threadedly engaged with screw 49 within the upper end of spring 42, thereby providing pivotal engagement between flange 44 and flange 38. The opening 46 may have an enlarged upper portion 47 for reception of the head 51 of screw 42. If desired, a layer 48 of bearing material may be provided between flange 44 of connector 43 and flange 38 of crank 32.

The connector 43 also has a cylindrical portion 53 with an opening 54 extending therethrough into which the shank 55 of an elongated arm 56 is slideably and rotatably received. A set screw 58 in portion 53 releasably locks the inner portion 57 of shank 55 within the portion 53. The inner portion 57 of arm 56 is bent at a slight angle to the remainder of the shank 55, and a handle 62 is attached to the outer end of the shank 55.

Operation Although the operation of the vibrato-creating device will be apparent to skilled persons from the foregoing description, a summary thereof will now be set forth.

The vibrato-creating device 10 is mounted upon an instrument 11 by securing the hinged member 13 to the sidewall 14. Since the tailpiece 12 is hingedly connected to member 13, the device can be mounted on instruments having various angles between the sidewall 14 and the upper wall 16. The strings 30 are connected at their rear ends to pins 28 and then in a counterclockwise direction, as appearing in FIGURE 3, around the shaft 24. The strings are then attached to the tuning pegs (not shown) of the instrument and tuned in a conventional manner. The normal tension of the strings 30 will urge the horizontal flange 38 downwardly and thereby hold the spring 42 under compression against the flange 29.

If the instrumentalist wishes to produce a vibrato, he effects a slight pulsating movement of the handle or arm 56, thereby alternately increasing and decreasing the compression of the spring 42, whereby the tension of the strings 30 is decreased and then increased, respectively. This produces a corresponding decrease and increase in the pitch of the strings which, if the strings are vibrating, produces warmth in the tone in a well-known manner.

The handle 62 of the vibrato-creating device 10 can be simply adjusted so as to allow the hand of the instrumentalist to assume a comfortable position. Transverse adjustment of handle 62, parallel with the top wall 16, can be made by pivoting the arm 56 and connector 43 around screw 49. Because of the bend in shank 55, adjustment of the handle 62 with respect to the top wall 16 can be made by loosening screw 58 and rotating shank 55 in cylindrical opening 54 of connector 43 until said handle 62 is positioned at the desired distance from the top wall 16. This adjustment of the handle 62 with respect to wall 16 can also be effected by inserting a shim in the recess 31 beneath the spring 42, or by using a spring 42 of a different size or length. The effective length of arm 56 can be made greater or lesser by loosening set screw 58 and sliding arm 56 forwardly or rearwardly, as desired, in cylindrical opening 54 of connector 43.

Alternate embodiment The vibrato-creating device'10A (FIGURES and 6) has a structure which, in most respects, is identical to the structure of the vibrato-creating device and, therefore, most of the parts of the device 10A will be referred to by the same reference numerals designating corresponding parts of the device 10, but with the suffix A added' 4 and nuts 52A. The arm 66 has a shank 67 which is rectangular in cross section and is removably held by screw 69 in the rectangular slot 68 in connector 65.

The operation of the vibrato-creating device 10A is substantially the same as the above-described operation of the vibrato-creating device 10. The shank of device 10A is not capable of rotation with respect to the connector 65. However, adjustment of the shank 67 toward or away from the top 16A of the instrument can be effected by inserting a shim in recess 31A or by changing the size or length of the spring 42A. The arm 66 can be adjusted transversely or in a lengthwise direction like he arm 56.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A device by which an instrumentalist can manually produce a vibrato on a stringed instrument having wall means, comprising:

a rigid and substantially fiat tailpiece;

hinged means adapted to connect said tailpiece to said wall means;

shaft means mounted upon said tailpiece for rotational movement around an axis substantially parallel with the hinge axis of said hinged means, said shaft means having a plurality of spaced elements projecting therefrom, each of said elements being adapted to engage and anchor one end of a string of said instrument;

crank means secured to one end of said shaft means for eifecting rotation thereof;

flange means on said tailpiece means transaxially aligned with said crank means;

resilient means between said crank means and said flange means yieldably resisting rotation of said crank means; and

elongated arm means having connector means at one end pivotally secured to said crank means for movement around an axis transverse of said rotational axis, said arm means being adjustable lengthwise thereof with respect to said connector means, whereby said arm means can be moved with respect to said crank means into a position for comfortable engagement by the instrumentalist and then pivoted around said rotational axis to effect a variation in the pitch of the strings attached to said shaft means.

2. A device according to claim 1, wherein said connector means has a cylindrical opening therethrough, the axis of which is transverse of the firstand secondmentioned axes;

wherein said arm means includes elongated rod means,

one end portion of which is slideably and rotatably received into the opening in said connector means, and the other end portion of which is disposed at an obtuse angle to said one end portion; and

holding means for rigidly but releasably securing said rod means in said connector means, whereby said arm means can be adjusted for the comfort of the instrumentalist.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,124,991 3/1964 Costen 84--313 3,162,083 12/1964 Webster 84-313 3,174,381 3/1965 Matthew et a1. 84313 FOREIGN PATENTS 942,999 11/1963 Great Britain.

RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner LAWRENCE R. FRANKLIN, Assistant Examiner 

